The Story Within Our Feathers
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: Marinette's always admired the soft, delicate colors of the feathers on her parents' backs, gentle memories interwoven to never be forgotten, but dreads the fact that when she meets her soulmate or soulmates as it feels when her feathers react to both Cat Noir and Adrien that her feathers start growing in dark and aren't an easy, happy story like her parents had always been.
1. Chapter 1

She remembers the first time that it sprouted up there on her back, harsh spines of dark wings, fluttering slightly under the pressure of her anger, wonders if he felt it too.

Though her mind is fuzzy with other memories, the first gentle pressure on her back when someone else held her in his arms, encouraging and supporting her, letting soft white and brown build a layer on top of the black spiny bones that had pushed their way on to her back.

She remembers seeing them that day and breaking down, because it never could be both; was he her true other half or just the delicate buffer from her other one?  
Marinette had found herself curled up in bed, hands trembling over her knees, tears falling, and remembers when her parents walked in with gentle hands, both had delicate curvings of wings on their back, remembers how she always looked up to them so much growing up.

Her mother's wings had a sturdy back that were just a hint darker, almost golden if seen in the right light, with soft, loving white feathers filling up down the rest of her wings.

Her father's had dark brown feathers, strong and unrelenting at the top yet not black, never black, that faded delicately to a slightly lighter brown shade all down the rest of his wings.

Marinette's parents weren't a complicated marriage, had never been, and yet she remembers the fear that clawed at her, realizing that her own wing decoration will become a flurry, a mess on her back of heartache and joy interwoven.

She can't help but cry into their embraces, warm and soft to the touch, and let her wings flutter.

"How long?" Her mother whispers.

Marinette can barely crack out a word in reply, "A few days."

She leans into her mother's steady embrace, biting back tears that manage to fall and drop anyway.

Marinette dreads knowing that her feathers may grow more complicated from here on out.

* * *

He's open and honest; Marinette falls a little for him when he hands his umbrella over to her as there was something in his honesty and his kindness, something in the joyous sound of his laugh when his umbrella traps her for a moment.

Her wings shift and dance on her back, her eyes locked on his, warm, soothing waves rushing up her back; she decides that her first soulmate is the one that she'll chase in that moment, because she can't fight back the desire to get to know him more, not after she'd fallen in love when he gave her his umbrella.

Marinette's smile is radiant when she takes her steps down those stairs long after he left, silently relieved to not be trapped in the umbrella while her wings grow and flourish.

She wonders if she's strong enough to balance the fact that Marinette has a soulmate and so does Ladybug; she can barely catch her breath as her smile blossoms further on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien remembers the irony that clung to them.

His mother was vibrant and full of life, her feathers sprung forth in weak arrays and patterns, good memories held in nearly white wings, bad memories interspersed throughout with dark brown to black feathers.

He always sneezed whenever any of his parents got their feathers too close, but he'd always both been awed and fearful of the beautiful array on his mother's back that she'd called her love shrine to his father.

Every last feather was a remnant, a hint, of their love; she'd remarked more than once that everything that his father was changed her.

His father's wings were almost sad, darker grays mixed with the occasional lighter gray, and he realized that his father was more confused than his mother was; his back was like a sad picture of majestic wings, large that sprouted on his back, looked nearly intimidating, and Adrien remembers how their tips grew black, their new tips, ones that had came to life after his mother disappeared.

He never said a word about his father's feathers; he'd never felt like he could as they'd always looked so sad, so bittersweet, that even as a child he couldn't question them or bring any thoughts of them aloud to his mind.

Adrien could just close his eyes and imagine perfect feathers of his own though other days, he hoped that he wouldn't find a soulmate of his own, so that he wouldn't have to deal with his allergy or the bitterness that sprouted up so readily on both of his parents' backs.

He remembers though when he first felt the shift of feathers on his back when a girl in his class yells at him, ripping his heart to shreds in the process, because he's not ignorant to the feathers that sting and practically brand his back.

Adrien tries to stop it, tries to build up understanding, fearing the dark colors that he knows are on his back; he doesn't say a word to his father about soulmates, tries to at first ignore the pleasant awe in his chest on another day when soft feathers sprout up so gently.

He wishes that he had the luck of some of the kids in class with all light feathers, but then again, his life had never been lucky.

Adrien, when opportunity presents itself, apologizes properly to the girl in his class, shocked by the soft sprinkling of feathers on his back, ignores how they slightly sting when he decides to just be friends with her.

He never wanted a soulmate and wants one that was built up on misunderstandings even less; if he were to chase anyone, it would be Ladybug, because despite everything, they weren't built up on heartache.

Adrien realizes with a bitter twang of his heart and small pinpricks of pain on his back that Cat Noir has a soulmate, but so does Adrien Agreste.

He'd always rather be Cat Noir.


	3. Chapter 3

Ladybug tries to ignore how her feathers sprout mostly brown nowadays, but in some moments, when she isn't questioning all of her choices leading up to these moments, they sprout white.

As Marinette, she knows where her feelings lay, as tangled in a net of confusion as they are, but today was unlike anything else and kind of reminded her of second chances as she'd stood right across from Adrien while she was suited up as Ladybug, and she'd felt the delicate fluttering of new feathers sprouted on her back.

He'd been so happy and so sweet, and she realized that Ladybug's soulmate wasn't just Cat Noir; it was binding in its own way to realize that either way, she'd probably feeling the sprouting of feathers around them both. Was there a way to stop it and just take a deep breath and move on?

She doubted that feathers would stop sprouting if she left one for the other, and she wondered dimly if Cat Noir lived like she did, caught between two girls, two identities, like she was caught between two guys and two identities.

Marinette's life couldn't be as simple and sweet as her parents' had been, and she realized that no matter what, something would fall apart between them.

"Thank you, Ladybug." He'd smiled up at her, and she'd felt so caught up in his smile like it was nothing else.

"Anything for such an outstanding citizen." She'd muttered somehow, and yet she wasn't quite sure if that would ever be enough; she was so grateful that her feathers hid beneath her suit just like it was any other kind of fabric though she knew that he probably felt it too, felt the feathers emerge on his back so very easily.

* * *

It feels like a slam of reality down on her since Ladybug and Marinette each have the same soulmates, and she's almost fearful of seeing Cat Noir while she's Marinette, but she doubts that she could stop it if push came to shove.

She wonders if Cat Noir would sprout feathers on her back if he were detransformed, just a civilian, in front of her; she's pretty sure that he would though nerves ride high in her stomach out of her control. Has she ever met Cat Noir without his mask on?


End file.
